[1.3.0] Wings of Defiance

Well, hello there. Since the block nerf hit too hard on BoR/WoE, I've tried to find a new duelist build with decent defences, and I daresay, that I have found it.

The basic idea is to stash the good old (and rusty) Bringer of Rain, and begin using some other uniques: Daresso's Defiance (instead of BoR, this also opens up some space for more gems, since we can use helmet and chest)and Atziri's Step (instead of Rainbowstrides).

Coupled with acro/ondar's, the defences seem to be quite good: 46/(43-46)% phys/spell dodge, instead of 75/75 block (yeah, still a big hit, but manageable) coupled with increased evasion (after patch) and some leftover block ability. What is more, Daresso's Defiance provides an easy way to get Endurance charges (that further mitigate damage) and gives an Onslaught effect after being hit (but you lose all the accumulated EC).

The remaining block could be used to trigger one of those new "reactive" gems (still not sure, if it is worth keeping Lazhwar for proccing spellblock), alongside the chance-on-being-hit trigger.

The lvl 92 tree is there:



Gearing suggestions:
Weapon = Wings of Entropy (still);
Helm - Alpha's Howl or some rare helm with HP, resists and whatnot;
Chest - Daresso's Defiance (good thing, it costs cheap);
Boots - Atziri's Step (also dirt ceap);
Gloves, rings, belt - from BoR/WoE times;
Amulet - either Lazhwar or some rare with more hp, resists etc.

Main skill to use:
Cleave + Multistrike + FA + Melee dmg + added fire/inc AoE/ Conc. Effect + ???

New trigger setup:
On hit + block + blind + multistrike (if this thing works the way I think it works).

Also, not sure what to do with Immortal call setup:
Maybe manual (since we should have plenty of endurance charges at hand), maybe cwdt + inc duration + molten shell.

In conclusion:
The build should be fun in clearing packs of thrash (10% of getting Onslaught from passives + 3-5 sec Onslaught from being hit), while helping avoid insta-death from occasional hard hitting phys mobs (when all the charges are up).
On the other hand, being left alone with hard boss is more difficult, because you won't be able to generate EC from killing trash mobs, neither getting stable Onslaught (maybe low level CWDT with EC should help there).

Anyhow, that's my 0.02$, and will report on me testing this build after the patch is deployed.

I'm definitely curious what your new Block / Spell Block is with the new changes to both total block in the tree and acrobatics killing block %. Please let me know what your mitigation numbers are and if you're using legacy WoE... or if that even matters anymore.

Phys block: 19%
Spellblock: 14%
Atop of 46/46 dodge is not that bad.

Also, looks like we'd have 2 new legacy uniques, BoR and WoE, since no stats changed on mine ones.

Ok, upping this with update, in case anyone's interested.

Lvl 92
HP - 5,4k;
Phys/Spell dodge - 46%;
Block/spellblock: 19/14%
Evade chance - 36% (~5k evasion), double of that for projectiles;
DPS - 31k w/o Onslaught(running 5l with cleave + MS + FA + phys dmg + added fire), in case I'll get 6l, would be adding inc. AoE/ Conc. effect, so no further DPS increases there.

This is not a good HC build (because I got RIP'ed twice, but I'm to blame there, not the build), but a fun one and with good clear speed (and that's without Inc. AoE as of yet).

I've tried this build in maps up to lvl 78, and there was nothing I couldn't handle (except Elreon's mission with lots of dead bodies near relic with Fracture, +30 monster dmg and +4 projectiles map mods and a rare with soul conduit on top of that). Endurance charges and Onslaught seem to be on most of the time, so an occasional big hit is not a problem, as you can simply pop a flask (with 80% increased amount recovered), and ranged mobs are no problem at all (~70% chance to evade and 46% to dodge projectiles).

Dodge seems better than block in the way it doesn't have micro-stun (aka block recovery) animations, so you don't get interrupted most of time, but this additionally cripples remaining block chance, and makes new reactive gems useless, because neither you get this or block attacks that often to constantly trigger them.